| “ | Simple. I say what happened, then you say what happened, and then I decide who's right. That's why we call it justice. Because it's "just us." | „ |
| ~ Mayor Tong |
Mayor Tong is a minor neutral anti-villainous antagonist from the series Avatar: The Last Airbender. He is the mayor of Chin Village. Due to his arrogance and his hatred of the Avatar and his twisted justice principles which gave him severe advantages over his defendants, Mayor Tong could count as a villain. He worships Chin the Conqueror as the hero of his city.
He is voiced by James Hong.
Personality[]
Mayor Tong is largely arrogant, stubborn (even dimwitted to an extent) and tends to flaunt the evidence. He exercises a strange form of justice that put his defendant at a severe disadvantages, in which he acted as the court, jury, and judge at once.
Tong is also mean-spirited and unfair towards Aang for much of the episode he appears in, with the most glaring scene being where he says to Aang that during court, both of them will say their perspectives but Tong will be the one judging who's right (He even arrogantly declares that he should be the judge), even hypocritically calling it inherently justice even when he only focuses on the perspective his town has been having for years.
Tong has a very short-sighted understanding of his situation, with the most notable being his blind loyalty towards Chin, constantly calling him "Chin the Great" and not trying to fully understand anything even after learning from Avatar Kyoshi that he's actually a heartless conqueror. Because of this, Tong has very poor and dumb motivation on hating the Avatar. He is also relentless in trying to end Aang for Kyoshi's actions (even if they are selfless), not even caring for the fact that Aang is a mere child. However, when Tong and his people get threatened by the Rough Rhinos, the former acts cowardly and doesn't do anything himself to protect his people. Instead, he tries to rely on the Aang for his abilities, despite resenting the Avatar for years. Aang reminds him that he's supposed to be boiled in oil (which was his undeserving punishment), but Tong changes it to community service (out of his cowardice), begging Aang to save him and his people.
By the end of the episode, after Aang and his friends saved everyone, Tong changes the meaning of "Avatar Day" and finally acknowledges what is special about the Avatar, honoring him for his heroic actions, and possibly no longer expressing hatred towards Kyoshi. He even makes unfried dough with a vague resemblance to Aang, which is the town's new festival food.
Appearance[]
Mayor Tong is rather tall, similar to the Gan Jin elder. He has black hair and a thin moustache.
Biography[]
Mayor Tong makes his first appearance when the townspeople celebrate Avatar Day. Aang believes that he and his previous avatars would be honoured, but Tong's true colours are revealed when someone torches the floats, which are merely effigies. Though Katara defends the Avatars by putting the fire out with her waterbending and Team Avatar reasons that the Avatars help, not hurt, Aang is jailed. Katara and Sokka try to defend him by finding evidence, but their attempts are foiled when Tong, due to his twisted justice principles, brushes it aside.
During the testimony, Kyoshi appears and confessess to killing Chin the Conqueror, but merely to defend her home. Nevertheless, she admits that she would have killed him if Chin did survive his fall.
Mayor Tong then pronounces Aang guilty, but when the Rough Rhinos invade for the Fire Nation, he quickly changes the sentencing to community service. When Aang defeats the Fire Nation, the redeemed Mayor is convinced to change the purpose of Avatar Day: to honor Avatars rather than defaming them. Although, the Gaang was a little freaked and him serving raw cookie dough to honor how Aang wasn't boiled.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Mayor Tong is the first character to demonize the Avatar for bad reasons.
- He has a similar appearance, personality, and even the same voice actor of Chi-Fu from Mulan.
- Tong is considered one of the most annoying characters in the series, along with being one of the most filler out of all characters.
